A budget deficit is when you are spending more than you are taking in as income. When a government incurs several years of budget deficits, it then build a debt, which is the accumulation of the deficits. Government debt is the total amount owed by the central government, also called national debt. To cover the shortfall between spending and income, a government will issue government bonds and bills. These are promises by the government that the money that it borrows will be returned, with an interest payment as the cost of borrowing. Since all government debt is paid by income generated by the citizens of the country, this debt is really the burden of the taxpayers. In addition to outstanding securities issued by a government, it can be said that unfunded future liabilities are considered to be government debt, such as future pension plans and health costs.

As everyone is celebrating the market at record highs, another record was just broken and no one appears to be celebrating it.

Of course, I’m talking about the fact that the U.S. government debt total has just exceeded $17.0 trillion.

No one should be really surprised, since we continue running deficits each year. This just means that our government debt will continue to climb, with no end in sight.

Government debt totaling $17.0 trillion is a staggering amount of money. That equates to almost $149,000 per taxpayer. Of course, this doesn’t include unfunded liabilities. When you add in Medicare, Social Security liabilities, and a vast assortment of other levels of government debt, the total is well over $100 trillion.

Again, this may not be much of a surprise to our readers, as most of you are aware of our government debt problem; what may be a surprise to many, however, is the continued global demand for U.S. bonds.

Because we have been able to sell U.S. bonds for so long to investors around the world, this has enabled us to keep spending and to procrastinate when it comes to getting our house in order.

However, I don’t believe this can go on forever. At some point, foreign investors are going to start getting worried that all those trillions of dollars they pumped into U.S. bonds might be worth a whole lot less in the future.

This political circus that we are witnessing in Washington just barely scratches the surface of how much work really needs to get done to solve our government debt problem.

Whenever I’m asked what I think has the biggest potential impact not only on the stock market, but also on our way of life, I always point to the continued increase in government debt.

Over the short term, the Federal Reserve has attempted to stimulate the economy partially by buying U.S. Treasuries. Under normal monetary policy, the Federal Reserve only directly impacts short-term interest rates. To reduce long-term interest rates, the Fed began buying U.S. Treasuries, pushing up the price and lowering the yield.

Over the short term, we can look around today and notice that the sky is not falling. However, as government debt continues to pile on, approaching $17.0 trillion (which doesn’t include unfunded liabilities), at some point, this will impact not only U.S. Treasuries, but also our entire economy.

Part of the reason that U.S. Treasuries are still in demand worldwide is that the U.S. dollar remains a reserve currency. There are benefits from a logistical standpoint in conducting business using the reserve currency to also use U.S. Treasuries for investment purposes.

However, as I’ve mentioned in other articles, large investors in U.S. Treasuries, such as China, are increasingly calling for a new global financial system that relies less on the U.S. dollar.

That sentiment alone should shock the politicians into action and make them realize that our biggest lenders, the ones buying our U.S. Treasuries, are questioning our ability to manage the rising pile of government debt.

The most recent data from August was that China actually reduced its holdings in U.S. Treasuries to a six-month low, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. (Source: … Read More

America’s total government debt is rapidly approaching $17.0 trillion. While the budget deficit has dropped over the past year, it’s still in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

This doesn’t even include unfunded government debt liabilities, but let’s stick with just the massive $17.0 trillion government debt.

What some investors might not be aware of is that we are, yet again, embarking on another round of bickering by our so-called leaders in Washington. It now appears that House Republicans, specifically members of the Tea Party caucus, have caused a bill, which would allow the government to spend after September 30, to be cancelled—a move that could lead to a government shutdown.

Officially, America will run out of money at the end of September, unless the U.S. government debt ceiling is raised—yet again.

The big hurdle is the new healthcare plan, the Affordable Care Act. There has been much heated debate over this new healthcare initiative, with both small and large business owners worried about the impact the new regulations will have on the bottom line. With the budget deficit continuing to add to our nation’s government debt levels, the last thing we need is the politicians in Washington putting up additional hurdles considering our relatively weak economic recovery.

Unfortunately, investors will begin to see more bickering among politicians at the federal level, as each side tries to gain favor from the nation’s voters. While both sides talk about doing what’s best for America, they seem to be forgetting that actions speak louder than words. Frankly, regardless of who’s in power, it appears the U.S. is incapable of not running a … Read More

When we enter the 2013 fall season, we will surely be hit with yet more talk regarding government debt. As the U.S. hits the debt ceiling once again, political grandstanding will be the name of the game.

While the budget deficit has improved from the depths of the recession, it is still significantly large as it continues to pile onto the government debt total, now approaching $17.0 trillion.

The real problem is that politicians are shortsighted. They’re not interested in what will occur 20 years from now, but what will get them elected over the next couple of years. This causes a huge incentive problem.

Without real structural changes, the government debt is set to balloon to massive proportions. Because the federal government has run an almost continuous budget deficit for years, allowing our government debt to approach $17.0 trillion, unfunded liabilities including Medicare and Social Security are over $100 trillion.

The U.S. is not alone in its current state of a rising level of government debt. Japan’s total government debt just crossed the quadrillion-yen mark (1,000 trillion yen), or US$10.4 trillion. This is more than double the gross domestic product (GDP) of the nation. (Source: “Japan’s debt exceeds 1 quadrillion yen as Abe mulls tax rise,” Bloomberg, August 9, 2013.)

The solution that Japanese politicians are discussing to reduce their budget deficit involves increasing taxes. At some point, this level of government debt needs to be paid back, in addition to the higher costs of servicing it.

The problem is that running a budget deficit, which continues to add to the government debt, will begin to seriously hurt the … Read More

Well, it’s official—as of last Thursday, the city of Detroit is bankrupt.

Detroit is a sad example of a city that was continually running a large budget deficit. But it grew into such a huge amount of government debt that the only way out was to file for bankruptcy and give investors pennies on the dollar.

While some might not feel sorry for large investors, don’t forget that many pension funds will lose a significant amount of money as the city restructures its government debt. Early reports of the proposed restructuring indicate that retired municipal city workers will get less than 10% of what they are owed.

That just shows once again that you cannot run a budget deficit, spending more than you make, indefinitely. At some point, the government debt grows so large that the cost to maintain it ultimately brings the whole scheme down.

Even over the short term, since 2008, the city of Detroit has had a budget deficit in excess of $100 million each year on average. As the government debt continued to grow, there were no structural changes put in place to increase revenues and cut spending, and Detroit’s politicians simply kept borrowing more and more money, hoping things would turn around. Clearly, things didn’t turn out the way they’d hoped.

But is Detroit alone in continuing to run a budget deficit and build a government debt to insurmountable heights? No.

Just a few days ago, ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Chicago’s general obligation and sales tax debt, in addition to further downgrades for Chicago’s water and sewer senior bonds. (Source: “Moody’s downgrades Chicago … Read More

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